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Pene Pati
Shirley Thomson
Alice Jones
“Pati immediately scores with his high-placed and open sound, with a naturally sunny vocal hue…As well as the bravura numbers, there is an innate sense of style and elegance at work here.”
(5* Album Review, Opera Now, March 2022)
Tenor Pene Pati is revered for his “extraordinary gift for producing a golden thread of sound that can swell without strain to magnificence” (The Telegraph) and instantly recognisable by his “round and sunshine filled voice,” (Le Monde). The first Samoan tenor to perform on Europe’s top stages, he shows an exceptional versatility in a repertoire encompassing a broad palette of roles from Mozart to Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini and Verdi.
An exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics, Pene Pati’s self-titled debut album of Italian and French arias was released in 2022 to a glittering array of five-star reviews and earned him the Opus Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award and the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award at the International Opera Awards.
Recent seasons have seen Pati make numerous acclaimed debuts including in L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino) at Opéra National de Paris; Roméo et Juliette (Roméo) at San Francisco Opera, Opéra Comique and Opéra National de Bordeaux; La traviata (Alfredo) at Staatsoper Berlin and Dutch National Opera; Manon (des Grieux) at Gran Teatre del Liceu; Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo) at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli; Anna Bolena (Percy) at Wiener Staatsoper; Rigoletto (Duca) at Opéra de Rouen Normandie and Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Moïse et Pharaon (Amenophis) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Last season Pati further broadened his repertoire with triumphant first performances as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées under Lorenzo Passerini, as Fernand in Donizetti’s La Favorite at Opéra National de Bordeaux under Paolo Olmi, as Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto at Staatsoper Berlin under Marc Minkowski and in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at Opéra Monte-Carlo under Kazuki Yamada.
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As part of his 2023/24 season, Pati makes anticipated returns to Opéra national de Paris for Beatrice di Tenda under Mark Wigglesworth and to Staatsoper Berlin in Rigoletto under Giedrė Šlekytė. He makes debuts at Staatsoper Hamburg in Manon, at Deutsche Oper Berlin in La Traviata and, on the other side of the Atlantic, he stars in productions of La Bohème at Canadian Opera Company and L’elisir d’amore at San Francisco Opera. His season also includes Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and concert performances of both La Damnation de Faust and Madama Butterfly as part of a residency with CBSO under Kazuki Yamada. In addition to sell-out solo concerts under Emmanuelle Villaume with both Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine and Prague Philharmonia, he gives a series of recitals with soprano Amina Edris and pianist Robert Mollicone in North America.
On the concert stage in previous seasons, Pati has performed with Hans Graf and Tonkünstler Orchester for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Mikko Franck and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and, as part of Les Grandes Voix series, Pierre Bleuse and l’Orchestre National de France in Massenet’s Thaïs. He opened San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season as guest soloist in a celebratory concert under Music Director Eun Sun Kim, and his recent sell-out Gala concert at Prague’s Rudolfinum with Prague Philharmonia and Łukasz Borowicz was recorded and broadcast via Medici.tv.
Pene Pati’s warm and winning personality has helped endear him to audiences around the world and contributed to great competition success in his formative years taking top prizes and audience choice awards at several competitions including Operalia and Neue Stimmen. He received his masters’ degree from the Wales International Academy of Voice.
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“But everyone was put in the shade by the Samoan tenor Pene Pati as the yearning, confused and increasingly desperate Faust. He showed an extraordinary gift for producing a golden thread of sound that can swell without strain to magnificence, and his lyrical line was perfectly rounded in a way that reminded me of great French tenors of old. The agonising moment when he called out Marguerite’s name in despair simply wrung the heart, and is still echoing in my ear.”
“Pene Pati’s voice, especially live, is the embodiment of my ideal of a tenor sound.”
“Pene Pati’s Orombello has a sunny tone, full of lyricism and elegance…”
“The star of the production was tenor Pene Pati as the hopelessly smitten, afraid-to-make-the-move lover Nemorino.”
“Pene Pati was the best {of the opera} because his instrument is of the highest quality, his vocal freshness falls in love, and he also has a presence and bonhomie that they transmit, and that the audience appreciates and immediately connects with him. His aura reminds us on more than one occasion of the remembered Pavarotti, for his scenic smile and his generous means.”
“It is Samoan tenor Pene Pati who steals the show as Rodolfo. He has immense control of his lush voice, equally effective when soaring to high notes and bringing nuance to his pianissimos.”
“Speechless, dreamy diction and purity of tone combining to bewitch us.”
“Pene Pati is a real phenomenon.”
“The sweet-toned elegance and sense of line he brings to the Duke (Rigoletto) in the opening tracks is matched with rollicking vigour when he gets to ‘Possente amor’…Whether as Donizetti’s Nemorino or Massenet’s Des Grieux, Pati gives heartfelt accounts, and in the weightier assignment of Arnold (Guillaume Tell) he brings plangency of tone.”
“The tenor Pene Pati was a sweetly ingenuous Cassio”
“The result, let’s say it straight away, is exemplary…[the programme] reveals diction as perfect in French as in Italian, as well as a charm in the phrasing and an irresistible infectiousness…In Meyerbeer and Godard, two rarities are served with just the right amount of sensitivity, avoiding tipping into sentimentality.”
“But more than that, it’s a thorough study of each character’s emotional journey that characterises Pene Pati’s excellence…Therefore, it is not the thunderous brilliance of a demonstrative tenor that he offers us, and can quickly become tiresome, but the delicacy of a tenor with style, which is much more rare and satisfying.”
“His Duca has as much panache as style, with a high-flying ‘La donna è mobile’…We also find a Roméo with sunny romanticism, whose cavatina is crowned with a heady mezza voce.”
“what we admire above all are the nobility of the line, the softness of the mezza voce singing, the elegant style, and the purity of [Pati’s] phrasing and legato.”
“Pene Pati seems to be made to sing the French repertoire. The mastery of the language is quite astounding. And, perhaps above all, the style is there.”
“Pene Pati demonstrates great vocal generosity here, and we have to recognise the unlimited power of his timbre, a superbly mastered and harmonious technique throughout his full range, and his ease in the more tender and carnal passages.”
“Pati immediately scores with his high-placed and open sound, with a naturally sunny vocal hue. But in the recitative alone he impresses with his attention to the text and his phrasing…they immediately mark Pati out as a performer of sensitivity…As well as the bravura numbers, there is an innate sense of style and elegance at work here.”
“Pati returned to Cincinnati after a triumphant recital two years ago…The selections all had several things in common, starting with his sensational tenor voice and powerful skills of communication. Every note radiated the joy of his art…He sang with delicacy and beautiful tone, even in the highest register, capping his most impassioned phrases with effortless top notes.”
“Pene Pati is a fast rising lyric tenor no longer on the brink but in the midst of a major career. Pati is at the top of his game, equipped with a sizeable voice that rises easily above the staff with no sign of strain, his technique is impeccable and so is his command of French, Italian and Russian.”
“I may as well start right away with the best: Pene Pati as Roméo. We heard resounding proof of the gifts of this Samoan tenor who is a revelation…one remains dazzled by the generosity of his voice whose top range seems to have an utterly fool-proof strength, and seductive timbre. Above all, what a nuanced performance, and what incredible French diction! This is a Roméo we won’t forget.”
“Roméo is embodied by Pene Pati, the Samoan tenor who caused a sensation here last year as Percy in Anna Bolena, and to whom we are attached from the start with his sincere and beautiful timbre. His diction was superlative.”
“This semi-staging also benefits from Pene Pati’s Roméo who, in the final act, explodes into a phenomenal vocal performance.”
“This Roméo and Juliette couple is close to ideal…Pene Pati takes great care over the composer’s dynamics which others neglect. What is the use of the orchestra preparing the final pianissimo of “Ah, leve-toi, soleil” if the tenor sings a fortissimo? Pene Pati offers us the pianissimo, kneeling, and it’s a delight…But when his fortissimo comes, in the rage of the Act III duel, it delights us just as much.”
“He sings with excellent French as Roméo. His flexible voice with an ethereal vibrato rises without difficulty into his crystal clear top range. He completes his aria “Ah, leve-toi, soleil” with a long, full messa di voce, and a phenomenal top note in Act III.”
“He proved to us from the first moment that he has everything to be a tenor we will continue to hear about for the next twenty years. The voice is powerful and equal throughout the range, but he’s not all about volume! He is a sensitive, sympathetic and intelligent artist.”
“He brought requisite ardour and gleaming sound to Roméo, melding beautifully with Nadine Sierra in all four of their duets. Pati impressed even when he wasn’t courting his lover, including a glowing account of the dreamy ‘Ah! Léve-toi soleil!”
“Pati’s voice bloomed open with fresh urgency and power. He brought the house down.”
“He’s got a vigorous, full-bodied sound with a lustrous mid-range and glorious, perfectly placed top notes, including one long-held stratospheric closer that would have sounded like showboating if it hadn’t been so magnificent. Pati sings in a gleaming, sensuous stream of sound, with heroic accents in more athletic passages and a warm, tenderly inviting depth for moments of romantic intimacy.”
“The pain of the text was palpable in “Non t’amo piu” and his high notes were electrifying…you could only marvel at the expressive quality and control of his softest phrases, which could effortlessly transition to a stunning climax. His impassioned “Core n’grato” was rich, powerful and from the heart.”
“He sang with warm, Italianate tenor sound and managed adroitly to make his character more than a dim-witted yokel.”
“We can only say that he must be the most exceptional tenor discovery in the last ten years”
“the surprise of the night was tenor Pene Pati, a wonderful discovery as Riccardo Percy…He has an extremely attractive voice, bigger than that of a pure light tenor, very homogeneous throughout the entire range”
“Unquestionably the stars of the show are the young New Zealanders Amina Edris and Pene Pati, as Adina and Nemorino. These are two tremendously exciting young singers with rich, expressive stage personalities…Pati’s striking, powerful voice put his stamp on Una furtive lagrima, making it sound fresh and tender.”
“The central love interest of Amina Edris and Pene Pati offers some absolutely superb, effortless singing, and real dramatic ability.”
“Pati, born for the beauties of bel canto, spins an effortless ‘Una furtiva lagrima’”
“Pene Pati was making his New York debut and he sang with a beautiful tone in “La donna è mobile”
“His “La donna è mobile” revealed a gleaming tenor with effortless high notes. No wonder he has an array of awards and prizes that would be the envy of any young opera singer.”
“The fluency and brilliance of Pene Pati’s singing, most notably, is a delight that never stales”
“tenor Pene Pati showed off a warm, powerful voice in a selection from Donizetti’s unfinished opera Il Duca d’Alba. It was a good choice, with plenty of the high notes where Pene has such thrilling squillo.”
“Ingénu tenor Pene Pati is purely and simply the vocal embodiment of the Duke of Mantua, possessing the vocal swagger, the freshness of voice, and the creative energy that makes the Duke, indeed all youth, lovable. The artistic achievement of this debut in a major role on a major stage was formidable, this young artist fusing surprisingly graceful stage movement with nearly impeccable vocal delivery. And there was solid tenorial attitude. Aplenty.”
“Tenor Pene Pati made his San Francisco Opera debut as the Duke of Mantua…[he] was an absolute revelation. He has a sweet, honeyed timbre and his top notes appear to be effortless. His phrasing, expression and breath control are superb”
“the Duke of Mantua, sung by tenor and Adler fellow Pene Pati. Pati comes across as an almost boyish, though exuberantly puckish, playboy…[his voice] was clarion clear and hit all the high notes, most notably in his Act 3 showpiece aria “La donna è mobile.”
“For sheer tonal pleasure, Pati’s Duke made a connection. His tenor was buttery and suavely delivered.”
“It seemed luxury casting to have the rising New Zealand tenor Pene Pati as the messenger.”
“Pati in a sumptuous, broad-beamed account of Verdi’s “Quando le sere al placido” from Luisa Miller.”
“Tenor Pene Pati was an unusually vivid and powerful Messenger”
“runner-up was the New Zealander Pene Pati; in ‘Tomba degli avi miei’ from Lucia di Lammermoor his tone floated beautifully, and he has thrust and passion to spare at the top”
“By far the most talented and promising singer was the Samoan-born Aucklander tenor Darren Pene Pati, who sang Tombe degli avi miei…[he] had a wonderful Italianate sound and superb vocal control harnessed to subtle phrasing [and] could effortless fill the Royal Opera House.”
“New Zealander Darren Pene Pati was the one with the special tenor voice. Unsurprisingly, he took the audience prize for male singer.”
“Unspoken but unignorable is the pressure for young opera singers to own the stage and inhabit a character. Hence the golden-voiced New Zealand tenor Darren Pene Pati won the audience prize with Donizetti’s Tombe degli avi miei”
“First up was Pene Pati, a New Zealander who boasts a lithe and radiant tone, deep theatrical instincts and plenty of charisma…In the final scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, he gave a full-throated, suavely phrased performance, replete with ardour and elegance and driving to a thrilling, perfectly placed high note.”
“You will know him for years to come, and thrill to his voice of golden trumpet just as the crowded house in San Francisco did tonight…Pati took the final note [in the final scene of Lucia di Lammermoor], with an open-throated, flawless, powerful high D…and held it pure and solid, not a show-off, just a peak moment, which seemed to go on for minutes.”